1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an improved system and method for performing skill set analysis, and more particularly, relates to a system and method for managing skill assessment data and for allowing a dynamically-selected set of skills to be reported for a dynamically-selected group of people.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In today""s competitive marketplace, employers are often seeking ways to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of their workforces. One way to accomplish this evaluation process is to assess the skills possessed by their employees. The assessment information can be used to make informed employment and staffing decisions. This information may also be used to award compensation adjustments, to grant promotions, or to offer incentives that encourage employees to acquire additional skills. Training programs may be developed to compensate for deficiencies uncovered by the skill assessment process.
Skill assessment may be performed by an employee""s management. More often, however, the skill evaluation process will initially be completed by employees themselves. Each employee may be required to rate his proficiency at performing a set of skills considered important for adequately performing his job. Sometimes this skill assessment process may be performed manually. Alternatively, it may be performed with the aid of an automated skill assessment tool running on a data processing system.
Several skill assessment tools are available commercially. These tools generally allow a set of skills to be entered into a database for use in performing the assessment process. Initially, this skill set will be defined when the tool is installed for use, and can be modified during the life of the tool. The skill set will usually include all skills related to any employee located anywhere in the entity employing the skill assessment tool. For example, an automobile manufacturer may define the skill set to include all skills related to all of its employees, including those employees in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, managerial, and accounting positions. This comprehensive skill set may include thousands of unrelated skills ranging from those skills associated with assembly line techniques to skills relating to knowledge on acceptable accounting practices. The employees in the corporation will use this skill set when performing the self-evaluation process.
In addition to containing a centralized skill database, many skill assessment tools also generally include a single repository used to store the names of employees that will be performing the skill assessment process. If the employer is large and diverse, this database will include employees associated with many different aspects of a business. For instance, an employee database associated with the automobile manufacturing entity of the above example will include employees engaged in many different activities including accounting, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing.
The use of a centralized skill database and employee repository is beneficial for several reasons. By using centralized databases, any employee can access the same skill set to complete the skill assessment process. A uniform process may be readily instituted by a given employer regardless of the employer""s size and organizational structure. Additionally, because the skill assessment data is centrally located, administrators of the assessment process may more readily manage the database and the process itself
Although use of a large centralized skill assessment database may allow data entry to proceed more efficiently, the amount and diversity of the assessment data makes it more difficult to report on, and to analyze in a meaningful manner. For example, for a large, diverse employment entity, merely reporting all skill assessment data for all employees does not provide information that is useful on a department-by-department basis. A given department within an employment entity will most likely want to analyze assessment data associated with a particular subset of the comprehensive skill set, or a particular subset of the employee population. Furthermore, for any given department, the specific set of skills and employees that are of interest when reviewing the skill assessment data may change depending on the reason that data is being reviewed. For instance, when making hiring or training decisions, an accounting department will most likely be concerned with the accounting-related skills possessed by the people then-employed by that department. This department will most likely be disinterested in the accounting skills possessed by the rest of the employee population, and will likewise be unconcerned with the manufacturing skills possessed by the employees within the accounting department. Similarly, if a particular training program is being instituted for a subset of the employees within the accounting department, only the skill assessment data involving the program participants and those skills associated with the training curriculum are of interest. The subsets of skills and employees used for this purpose may be different from those subsets considered useful when making the staffing decisions.
Prior art skill assessment tools generally provide reporting functions to report all skill assessment data included within a skill assessment database. The user is then responsible for selecting that portion of the reported data that is applicable to the users needs. This may be a time-consuming process. Moreover, the resulting data may not be presented in a user-friendly manner. In such systems, if any re-selection of employee subsets or skill sets is to occur, actual modification of the tool software must be performed.
What is needed, therefore, is a skill assessment tool that allows a subset of employees and/or a subset of skills to be selected for use in generating reports for analyzing the skill assessment data. The tool should provide a means of allowing employee and skill subsets to be dynamically reselected so that new reports may be generated without the need to make modifications to the system.
It is a primary object of the current invention to provide an improved system and method for administering skill assessment data;
It is another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting skill assessment data using a selectable subset of those skills that may be assessed by the tool;
It is yet another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting skill assessment data using a selectable subset of the skills that may be assessed by the tool, wherein the subset is selected by specifying one or more predefined groups of the skills;
It is a further object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting skill assessment data entered by a selectable subset of the users of the skill assessment tool;
It is yet another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting skill assessment data using a selectable subset of the users of the skill assessment tool, wherein the subset of users is selected by specifying one or more predefined groups of the users;
It is yet another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting skill assessment data using a selectable subset of the users of the skill assessment tool, wherein the subset of users is selected by specifying an employee hierarchy associated with the users;
It is another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting skill assessment data in a summary format for a selectable subset of the users;
It is another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting skill assessment data in a detailed format for a selectable subset of the users;
It is a further object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of adjusting the selectable subset of the users and the selectable subset of the skills dynamically without requiring reconfiguration of the administrative system;
It is still another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of providing licensing and certification data for a selectable subset of the users;
It is another object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting on the progress of the users in completing the skill assessment process; and
It is still a further object to provide an administrative system for a skill assessment tool that is capable of reporting on user activity for the skill assessment tool.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the drawings, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded to the extent of applicable law as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.